She scowled fiercely at her father, and he grinned back, shaking his head. They both knew that was unlikely to happen. Queens married for the good of the realm.

“Just…be careful, Briar Rose,” Averill said. “You have good instincts. Listen to them.”

“I will.” Raisa nodded. “Well,” she said shyly, taking his hands, “I guess this is good-bye for a few days.”

“The next time I see you, you’ll be officially grown,” Averill said. “Named heir to the Gray Wolf throne. Breaking hearts all around, no doubt.”

“Pursued by every spotty, ambitious lord and second son between twelve and eighty,” Raisa replied, shivering. She’d been looking forward to this season in her life: to dancing and flirting and kissing and love poems and notes ferried by trusted friends, and secret meetings in the garden, but when it came down to it, who would she have if she had a choice?

Micah was intriguing, but she didn’t really trust him, even if a marriage to him were possible.

No one else came to mind except Amon, and that would never be either.

She looked up to find her father gazing at her sympathetically, as if he could read her mind.

“Save at least one dance for me.” He kissed her on the forehead, and was gone.

Following the incidents in Southbridge and his lack of success in having Mac Gillen booted from the Guard, Edon Byrne had proposed reassigning Amon to a less treacherous neighborhood, where there would be less opportunity for Gillen to take revenge.

Amon had refused the reassignment. Absent a posting to Raisa’s personal guard (which carried its own risks and temptations), there was nowhere else he’d rather be than on the meanest streets of Fellsmarch. So instead of reassigning Amon, Edon transferred his Oden’s Ford classmates to Southbridge Guardhouse, so he’d have someone to watch his back.

One thing was true—Southbridge was a great place to learn. Amon learned more in two months than in a year at Oden’s Ford. Though, to be fair, it was a different curriculum, to a different purpose. He knew he’d need the theory and strategy and history he’d studied at Wien House as an officer.

In Ragmarket and Southbridge, he learned how to defuse a potentially violent situation without drawing his sword. He learned to look into a man’s face and predict whether he would run or fight, whether he was lying or telling the truth. He learned how to put a victim at ease, so he could get the information he needed to track down a thief. When trouble was brewing, he could smell it in the air.